Standalone multicast broadcast single frequency network cell acquisition

ABSTRACT

Standalone MBSFN cells may provide an improved user experience for an individual with a non-legacy UE since the bandwidth of that cell is mostly allocated to broadcasting streaming services. However, an individual with a legacy UE may be able to detect cell acquisition information associated with a standalone MBSFN cell but not to acquire standalone MBSFN cells. In order to solve this problem, the present disclosure provides various UE avoidance schemes that enable non-legacy UEs to acquire a standalone MBSFN cell and prevents legacy UEs from trying to acquire a standalone MBSFN only cell. The apparatus may receive cell acquisition information associated with an eMBMS standalone cell. The apparatus may detect a UE avoidance scheme based on a characteristic associated with the cell acquisition information. The apparatus may perform cell acquisition with the eMBMS standalone cell based on the characteristic.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 62/315,584, entitled “STANDALONE MULTICAST BROADCAST SINGLEFREQUENCY NETWORK CELL ACQUISITION” and filed on Mar. 30, 2016, which isexpressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, andmore particularly, to a communication system that includes a standalonemulticast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) cell.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employmultiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication withmultiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of suchmultiple-access technologies include code division multiple access(CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency divisionmultiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency divisionmultiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous codedivision multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in varioustelecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enablesdifferent wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national,regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standardis Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE is a set of enhancements to theUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standardpromulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). LTE isdesigned to support mobile broadband access through improved spectralefficiency, lowered costs, and improved services using OFDMA on thedownlink, SC-FDMA on the uplink, and multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) antenna technology. However, as the demand for mobile broadbandaccess continues to increase, there exists a need for furtherimprovements in LTE technology. These improvements may also beapplicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunicationstandards that employ these technologies.

Due to the increasing amount of users that stream broadcast videocontent, wireless communication systems (e.g., non-legacy wirelesscommunication systems) may include standalone MBSFN cells. StandaloneMBSFN cells may provide an improved user experience (e.g., increasedquality of MBSFN services) for an individual with a non-legacy userequipment (UE) because the bandwidth of a standalone MBSFN cell ismostly allocated to broadcasting streaming services. However, a legacyUE (e.g., an older version UE) may be able to detect cell acquisitioninformation associated with a standalone MBSFN cell but not to actuallyacquire standalone MBSFN cells. Thus, legacy UEs may waste time andbattery power trying to acquire a detected standalone MBSFN cell.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nordelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Due to the increasing amount of users that stream broadcast videocontent, wireless communication systems (e.g., non-legacy wirelesscommunication systems) may include standalone MBSFN cells. StandaloneMBSFN cells may provide an improved user experience for an individualwith a non-legacy user equipment (UE) because the bandwidth of astandalone MBSFN cell is mostly allocated to broadcasting streamingservices. However, a legacy UE (e.g., an older version UE) may be ableto detect cell acquisition information associated with a standaloneMBSFN cell but not be able to acquire standalone MBSFN cells. Thus,legacy UEs may waste time and battery power trying to acquire a detectedstandalone MBSFN cell.

In order to solve the problem, the present disclosure provides variousUE avoidance schemes that enable non-legacy UEs to acquire a standaloneMBSFN cell and prevent legacy UEs from trying to acquire a standaloneMBSFN only cell.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium,and an apparatus are provided. In one configuration, the apparatus mayreceive cell acquisition information associated with an enhancedmulticast Broadcast service (eMBMS) standalone cell. The apparatus maydetect a UE avoidance scheme based on a characteristic associated withthe cell acquisition information. The apparatus may perform cellacquisition with the eMBMS standalone cell based on the characteristic.

In another configuration, the apparatus may detect a cell type as partof a mobile alert service cell camping procedure. In an aspect, the celltype may be one of a suitable cell, an acceptable cell, or anotification only cell. In a further aspect, the notification only cellmay be associated with an eMBMS standalone service. In another aspect,the apparatus may determine that the cell type is neither the suitablecell, nor the acceptable cell. In a further aspect, the apparatus maycamp on the notification only cell based on the determination.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed, and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative featuresof the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, ofbut a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspectsmay be employed, and this description is intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communicationssystem and an access network.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D are diagrams illustrating LTE examples of a DLframe structure, DL channels within the DL frame structure, an UL framestructure, and UL channels within the UL frame structure, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an evolved Node B (eNB)and UE in an access network.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of Multicast BroadcastSingle Frequency Network areas in an access network.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of an evolved MultimediaBroadcast Multicast Service channel configuration in a MulticastBroadcast Single Frequency Network.

FIG. 4C is a diagram illustrating a format of a Multicast Channel (MCH)Scheduling Information (MSI) Medium Access Control element.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a wireless communication system in accordancewith an aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a wireless communication system in accordancewith an aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication inaccordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication inaccordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flowbetween different means/components in an exemplary apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus employing a processing system.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are a flowchart of a method of wireless communicationin accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flowbetween different means/components in an exemplary apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus employing a processing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appendeddrawings is intended as a description of various configurations and isnot intended to represent the only configurations in which the conceptsdescribed herein may be practiced. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art that these concepts may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well known structures and components areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented withreference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methodswill be described in the following detailed description and illustratedin the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits,processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements”).These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computersoftware, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements areimplemented as hardware or software depends upon the particularapplication and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or anycombination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” thatincludes one or more processors. Examples of processors includemicroprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs),central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors,systems on a chip (SoC), baseband processors, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gatedlogic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardwareconfigured to perform the various functionality described throughoutthis disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system mayexecute software. Software shall be construed broadly to meaninstructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code,programs, subprograms, software components, applications, softwareapplications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects,executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whetherreferred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardwaredescription language, or otherwise.

Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions describedmay be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded asone or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage mediamay be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise arandom-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electricallyerasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of theaforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other mediumthat can be used to store computer executable code in the form ofinstructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communicationssystem and an access network 100. The wireless communications system(also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes basestations 102, UEs 104, and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160. The basestations 102 may include macro cells (high power cellular base station)and/or small cells (low power cellular base station). The macro cellsinclude eNBs. The small cells include femtocells, picocells, andmicrocells.

The base stations 102 (collectively referred to as Evolved UniversalMobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network(E-UTRAN)) interface with the EPC 160 through backhaul links 132 (e.g.,S1 interface). In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 mayperform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data,radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, headercompression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dualconnectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setupand release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS)messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network(RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriberand equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging,positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 maycommunicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160) with eachother over backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2 interface). The backhaul links134 may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Eachof the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for arespective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlappinggeographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102′ may havea coverage area 110′ that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or moremacro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell andmacro cells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneousnetwork may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which mayprovide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group(CSG). The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and theUEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link)transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL)(also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use MIMO antennatechnology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmitdiversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers.The base stations 102 /UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5,10, 15, 20 MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregationof up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmissionin each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to eachother. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL andUL (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL).The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and oneor more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may bereferred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carriermay be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi accesspoint (AP) 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 viacommunication links 154 in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum. Whencommunicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STAs 152/AP 150may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating inorder to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell 102′ may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensedfrequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum,the small cell 102′ may employ LTE and use the same 5 GHz unlicensedfrequency spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102′,employing LTE in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage toand/or increase capacity of the access network. LTE in an unlicensedspectrum may be referred to as LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U), licensed assistedaccess (LAA), or MuLTEfire.

The millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 may operate in mmWfrequencies and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with the UE182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in theelectromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and awavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in theband may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend downto a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The superhigh frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, alsoreferred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmWradio frequency band has extremely high path loss and a short range. ThemmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 184 with the UE 182 tocompensate for the extremely high path loss and short range.

The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, otherMMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast MulticastService (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC)170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be incommunication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 isthe control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 andthe EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connectionmanagement. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferredthrough the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDNGateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation aswell as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 areconnected to the IP Services 176. The IP Services 176 may include theInternet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a PS StreamingService (PSS), and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may providefunctions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, maybe used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a publicland mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMStransmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMStraffic to the base stations 102 belonging to a MBSFN area broadcastinga particular service, and may be responsible for session management(start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

The base station may also be referred to as a Node B, evolved Node B(eNB), an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio basestation, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic serviceset (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), or some other suitableterminology. The base station 102 provides an access point to the EPC160 for a UE 104. Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smartphone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system,a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3player), a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearabledevice, or any other similar functioning device. The UE 104 may also bereferred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, amobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobiledevice, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remotedevice, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobileterminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a useragent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, the UE 104 may beconfigured to acquire a standalone MBSFN cell (198).

FIG. 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a DL frame structurein LTE. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of channelswithin the DL frame structure in LTE. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250illustrating an example of an UL frame structure in LTE. FIG. 2D is adiagram 280 illustrating an example of channels within the UL framestructure in LTE. Other wireless communication technologies may have adifferent frame structure and/or different channels. In LTE, a frame (10ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes. Each subframe mayinclude two consecutive time slots. A resource grid may be used torepresent the two time slots, each time slot including one or more timeconcurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs(PRBs)). The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements(REs). In LTE, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB contains 12 consecutivesubcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols (for DL,OFDM symbols; for UL, SC-FDMA symbols) in the time domain, for a totalof 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB contains 12 consecutivesubcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in thetime domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by eachRE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry DL reference (pilot)signals (DL-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The DL-RS may includecell-specific reference signals (CRS) (also sometimes called common RS),UE-specific reference signals (UE-RS), and channel state informationreference signals (CSI-RS). FIG. 2A illustrates CRS for antenna ports 0,1, 2, and 3 (indicated as R₀, R₁, R₂, and R₃, respectively), UE-RS forantenna port 5 (indicated as R₅), and CSI-RS for antenna port 15(indicated as R). FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various channelswithin a DL subframe of a frame. The physical control format indicatorchannel (PCFICH) is within symbol 0 of slot 0, and carries a controlformat indicator (CFI) that indicates whether the physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) occupies 1, 2, or 3 symbols (FIG. 2B illustratesa PDCCH that occupies 3 symbols). The PDCCH carries downlink controlinformation (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs),each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs), each REG including fourconsecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. A UE may be configured with aUE-specific enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH) that also carries DCI. The ePDCCHmay have 2, 4, or 8 RB pairs (FIG. 2B shows two RB pairs, each subsetincluding one RB pair). The physical hybrid automatic repeat request(ARQ) (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) is also within symbol 0 of slot 0and carries the HARQ indicator (HI) that indicates HARQ acknowledgement(ACK)/negative ACK (NACK) feedback based on the physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH). The primary synchronization channel (PSCH) is withinsymbol 6 of slot 0 within subframes 0 and 5 of a frame, and carries aprimary synchronization signal (PSS) that is used by a UE to determinesubframe timing and a physical layer identity. The secondarysynchronization channel (SSCH) is within symbol 5 of slot 0 withinsubframes 0 and 5 of a frame, and carries a secondary synchronizationsignal (SSS) that is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cellidentity group number. Based on the physical layer identity and thephysical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine aphysical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determinethe locations of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physical broadcastchannel (PBCH) is within symbols 0, 1, 2, 3 of slot 1 of subframe 0 of aframe, and carries a master information block (MIB). The MIB provides anumber of RBs in the DL system bandwidth, a PHICH configuration, and asystem frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted throughthe PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry demodulation referencesignals (DM-RS) for channel estimation at the eNB. The UE mayadditionally transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) in the lastsymbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE maytransmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by an eNB forchannel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling onthe UL. FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various channels within an ULsubframe of a frame. A physical random access channel (PRACH) may bewithin one or more subframes within a frame based on the PRACHconfiguration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs within asubframe. The PRACH allows the UE to perform initial system access andachieve UL synchronization. A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)may be located on edges of the UL system bandwidth. The PUCCH carriesuplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, a channelquality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rankindicator (RI), and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, andmay additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a powerheadroom report (PHR), and/or UCI.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an eNB 310 in communication with a UE 350in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 may beprovided to a controller/processor 375. The controller/processor 375implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radioresource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a packet dataconvergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, anda medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of systeminformation (e.g., MIB, SIBs), RRC connection control (e.g., RRCconnection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connectionmodification, and RRC connection release), inter radio access technology(RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurementreporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with headercompression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrityprotection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLClayer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer packetdata units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation,segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs),re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; andMAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channelsand transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks(TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logicalchannel prioritization.

The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signalprocessing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer,may include error detection on the transport channels, forward errorcorrection (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels,interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels,modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antennaprocessing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signalconstellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binaryphase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK),M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation(M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split intoparallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier,multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/orfrequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse FastFourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a timedomain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded toproduce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channelestimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme,as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derivedfrom a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted bythe UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a differentantenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX maymodulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream fortransmission.

At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through itsrespective antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers informationmodulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive(RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signalprocessing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatialprocessing on the information to recover any spatial streams destinedfor the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350,they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbolstream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream fromthe time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform(FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbolstream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on eachsubcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated bydetermining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted bythe eNB 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimatescomputed by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are thendecoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals thatwere originally transmitted by the eNB 310 on the physical channel. Thedata and control signals are then provided to the controller/processor359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 thatstores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as acomputer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 359provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packetreassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signalprocessing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. Thecontroller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection usingan ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DLtransmission by the eNB 310, the controller/processor 359 provides RRClayer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs)acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layerfunctionality associated with header compression/decompression, andsecurity (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrityverification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer ofupper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation,segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC dataPDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionalityassociated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels,multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs,scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ,priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a referencesignal or feedback transmitted by the eNB 310 may be used by the TXprocessor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes,and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated bythe TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna 352 viaseparate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RFcarrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the eNB 310 in a manner similar tothat described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 350.Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RFcarrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 thatstores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as acomputer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packetreassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processingto recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from thecontroller/processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. Thecontroller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection usingan ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

FIG. 4A is a diagram 410 illustrating an example of MBSFN areas in anaccess network. The eNBs 412 in cells 412′ may form a first MBSFN areaand the eNBs 414 in cells 414′ may form a second MBSFN area. The eNBs412, 414 may each be associated with other MBSFN areas, for example, upto a total of eight MBSFN areas. A cell within an MBSFN area may bedesignated a reserved cell. Reserved cells do not providemulticast/broadcast content, but are time-synchronized to the cells412′, 414′ and may have restricted power on MBSFN resources in order tolimit interference to the MBSFN areas. Each eNB in an MBSFN areasynchronously transmits the same eMBMS control information and data.Each area may support broadcast, multicast, and unicast services. Aunicast service is a service intended for a specific user, e.g., a voicecall. A multicast service is a service that may be received by a groupof users, e.g., a subscription video service. A broadcast service is aservice that may be received by all users, e.g., a news broadcast.Referring to FIG. 4A, the first MBSFN area may support a first eMBMSbroadcast service, such as by providing a particular news broadcast toUE 425. The second MBSFN area may support a second eMBMS broadcastservice, such as by providing a different news broadcast to UE 420.

FIG. 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of an eMBMS channelconfiguration in an MBSFN. As shown in FIG. 4B, each MBSFN area supportsone or more physical multicast channels (PMCH) (e.g., 15 PMCHs). EachPMCH corresponds to an MCH. Each MCH may multiplex a plurality (e.g.,29) of multicast logical channels. Each MBSFN area may have onemulticast control channel (MCCH). As such, one MCH may multiplex oneMCCH and a plurality of multicast traffic channels (MTCHs) and theremaining MCHs may multiplex a plurality of MTCHs.

A UE may camp on an LTE cell to discover the availability of eMBMSservice access and a corresponding access stratum configuration.Initially, the UE may acquire a SIB 13 (SIB13). Subsequently, based onthe SIB13, the UE may acquire an MBSFN Area Configuration message on anMCCH. Subsequently, based on the MBSFN Area Configuration message, theUE may acquire an MSI MAC control element. The SIB13 may include (1) anMBSFN area identifier of each MBSFN area supported by the cell; (2)information for acquiring the MCCH such as an MCCH repetition period(e.g., 32, 64, . . . , 256 frames), an MCCH offset (e.g., 0, 1, . . . ,10 frames), an MCCH modification period (e.g., 512, 1024 frames), asignaling modulation and coding scheme (MCS), subframe allocationinformation indicating which subframes of the radio frame as indicatedby repetition period and offset can transmit MCCH; and (3) an MCCHchange notification configuration. There is one MBSFN Area Configurationmessage for each MBSFN area. The MBSFN Area Configuration message mayindicate (1) a temporary mobile group identity (TMGI) and an optionalsession identifier of each MTCH identified by a logical channelidentifier within the PMCH, and (2) allocated resources (i.e., radioframes and subframes) for transmitting each PMCH of the MBSFN area andthe allocation period (e.g., 4, 8, . . . , 256 frames) of the allocatedresources for all the PMCHs in the area, and (3) an MCH schedulingperiod (MSP) (e.g., 8, 16, 32, . . . , or 1024 radio frames) over whichthe MSI MAC control element is transmitted. A particular TMGI identifiesa particular service of available MBMSs services.

FIG. 4C is a diagram 440 illustrating the format of an MSI MAC controlelement. The MSI MAC control element may be sent once each MSP. The MSIMAC control element may be sent in the first subframe of each schedulingperiod of the PMCH. The MSI MAC control element can indicate the stopframe and subframe of each MTCH within the PMCH. There may be one MSIper PMCH per MBSFN area. A logical channel identifier (LCID) field(e.g., LCID 1, LCID 2, . . . , LCID n) may indicate a logical channelidentifier of the MTCH. A Stop MTCH field (e.g., Stop MTCH 1, Stop MTCH2, . . . , Stop MTCH n) may indicate the last subframe carrying the MTCHcorresponding to the particular LCID.

Due to the increasing number of users that stream broadcast videocontent, wireless communication systems (e.g., non-legacy wirelesscommunication systems) may now include standalone MBSFN cells.Standalone MBSFN cells may provide an improved user experience for anindividual with a non-legacy UE because the bandwidth of the standaloneMBSFN cell is mostly allocated to broadcasting streaming services.However, an individual with a legacy UE (e.g., an older version UE) maybe able to detect cell acquisition information associated with astandalone MBSFN cell but not be able to acquire standalone MBSFN cells.Thus, legacy UEs may waste time and battery power trying to acquire adetected MBSFN cell that the legacy UE is not equipped to communicatewith.

In order to address the problem, the present disclosure provides variousUE avoidance schemes that enable non-legacy UEs to acquire a standaloneMBSFN cell and prevent legacy UEs from trying to acquire a standaloneMBSFN cell.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an exemplary communication system 500 that mayenable non-legacy UEs to acquire a standalone MBSFN cell and preventlegacy UEs from trying to acquire a standalone MBSFN only cell. Thecommunication system 500 may include a standalone MBSFN cell 502, anon-legacy UE 504 (e.g., a UE equipped to acquire the standalone MBSFNcell 502), a legacy UE 506 (e.g., a UE not equipped to acquire thestandalone MBSFN cell 502), and a base station 508. In one aspect, thestandalone MBSFN cell 502 may be an eMBMS standalone cell.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the base station 508 may transmit and/orbroadcast cell acquisition information 510 associated with thestandalone MBSFN cell 502 (e.g., eMBMS standalone cell). The cellacquisition information 510 may be received by both the non-legacy UE504 and the legacy UE 506. In a first configuration, the cellacquisition information 510 may be transmitted by the base station 508in a discovery subframe (e.g., using unicast mode). A discovery subframeincluding the cell acquisition information 510 may be transmitted onceevery time period (e.g., 80 ms). In certain configurations, thediscovery subframe may include at least one of a PSS, an SSS, a PBCH, aCRS, a SIB, or a MIB. In other words, the discovery subframe may be verysimilar to a normal cell subframe 0. For example, base station 508 maytransmit PSS/SSS/PBCH or PDSCH and system information (e.g., cellacquisition information 510) in non-MBSFN subframes. In an aspect, thenon-MBSFN subframes may be transmitted with a subcarrier spacing ofΔf=15 kHz (e.g., each subcarrier in the non-MBSFN subframes may have a15 kHz bandwidth). In a second configuration, the cell acquisitioninformation 510 may be included in a synchronization channel that isreceived by the non-legacy UE 504 and/or legacy UE 506 in a singlefrequency network (SFN) broadcast mode.

Each of the non-legacy UE 504 and the legacy UE 506 may detect a UEavoidance scheme based on a characteristic 505 associated with the cellacquisition information 510. The legacy UE 506 may not recognize thecharacteristic 505 and thus stop the cell acquisition/search procedurefor standalone MBSFN cell 502. However, the characteristic 505 may berecognized by the non-legacy UE 504. When the characteristic 505 isdetected and/or recognized by the non-legacy UE 504, the non-legacy UE504 may perform cell acquisition 520 with the base station 508 of thestandalone MBSFN cell 502.

In the first example embodiment, when the cell acquisition information510 is transmitted by the base station 508 in a discovery subframe, thecharacteristic 505 may include at least one of a modified PSS sequencethat is not recognized by the legacy UE 506, a modified SSS sequencethat is not recognized by the legacy UE 506, a modified separationbetween the PSS and the SSS that is not recognized by the legacy UE 506,a modified PBCH payload size that is not recognized by the legacy UE506, a modified PBCH scrambling sequence that is not recognized bylegacy UE 506, a modified MIB scrambling sequence that is not recognizedby the legacy UE 506, and/or a modified bandwidth value that is notrecognized by the legacy UE 506. The modified characteristics listedsupra may act as a UE avoidance scheme because the modifiedcharacteristics may cause the legacy UE 506 to skip the cell acquisitionprocedure. However, each of the modified characteristics listed supramay be recognized by the non-legacy UE 504, and the non-legacy UE 504may perform cell acquisition of the standalone MBSFN cell 502 based onone or more of the characteristics.

For example, when the characteristic 505 includes a modified PBCHscrambling sequence, the modified PBCH scrambling sequence may act as aUE avoidance scheme because the modified characteristics may not berecognizable by the legacy UE 506. When the modified PBCH scramblingsequence is not recognizable by the legacy UE 506, the legacy UE 506 mayskip the cell acquisition procedure. In one configuration, the PBCHscrambling sequence may be initialized with c_(init)=29 N_(ID) ^(cell)in each radio frame fulfilling n_(f) mod 16=0. For example, c_(init) maybe the initialization of the scrambling sequence, N_(ID) ^(cell) may bethe physical cell ID (e.g., obtained from the PSS and/or SSS), and n_(f)may be the radio frame number. In addition, n_(f) mod 16 may indicatethat the scrambling sequence is initialized every 16 radio frames.However, the modified PBCH scrambling sequence may be recognized by thenon-legacy UE 504, and thus the non-legacy UE 504 may perform cellacquisition of the standalone MBSFN cell 502 based on the modified PBCHscrambling sequence.

In legacy communication systems, cell acquisition information mayinclude one of a number of n different bandwidth values for legacy cells(e.g., n6, n15, n25, n50, n75, n100 each of three bits with two reservedvalues). By introducing a modified bandwidth value for standalone MBSFNcells (e.g., nMBSFN), the legacy UE 506 may stop the cell search becausethe nMBSFN bandwidth value transmitted by base station 508 is notrecognized by the legacy UE 506. Alternatively, the non-legacy UE 504may interpret the nMBSFN value as a bandwidth value of a standaloneMBSFN cell (e.g., cell 502) and acquire the standalone MBSFN cell 502based on the nMBSFN bandwidth value. In one aspect, the bandwidth valuemay be transmitted by base station 508 using a configuration field ofthe PHICH or by using spare bits.

In a second example embodiment, the cell acquisition information 510(e.g., MIB and/or SIB) may be transmitted by the base station 508 in asingle frequency broadcast mode that may support different cyclic prefixlengths (e.g., 33 μs, 66 μs, 200 μs).

In a first aspect of the second example embodiment, the characteristic505 may include at least one of a modified PSS sequence or a modifiedSSS sequence. In the first aspect, the non-legacy UE 504 may performcell acquisition by detecting at least one of the modified PSS sequenceor the modified SSS sequence, and determining a cyclic prefix lengthassociated with the cell acquisition information.

In a second aspect of the second example embodiment, the characteristic505 may include at least one of a PSS sequence with a fixed cyclicprefix length or a modified SSS sequence with a fixed cyclic prefixlength. For example, the synchronization and/or broadcast channel may betransmitted by base station 508 using a common cyclic prefix. In thesecond aspect, the non-legacy UE 504 may perform cell acquisition bydetecting one of the PSS sequence with the fixed cyclic prefix length orthe SSS sequence with the fixed cyclic prefix length, and blindly decodethe other one of the PSS sequence or the SSS sequence based on differentcyclic prefix lengths. For example, if the PSS transmitted by the basestation 508 has a constant length (e.g., 200 μs), then the non-legacy UE504 may blindly decode the SSS transmitted by the base station 508 usingdifferent cyclic prefix lengths. Alternatively, the SSS may betransmitted by the base station 508 with the same cyclic prefix lengthas the PSS, and may include information about the cyclic prefix length.

In a third aspect of the second example embodiment, the characteristic505 may include at least one of a PSS sequence with a fixed symbolduration or an SSS sequence with a fixed symbol duration. For example,if the symbol duration of the PSS or SSS transmitted by the base station508 is the same and the cyclic prefix is different, the same PSS or SSSsequence may be transmitted regardless of the cyclic prefix. In thethird aspect, the non-legacy UE 504 may perform cell acquisition byblindly detecting a cyclic prefix length based on the fixed symbolduration of the PSS sequence or the fixed symbol duration of the SSSsequence.

Based on the forgoing, the communication system 500 illustrated in FIG.5 may provide a solution to the problem discussed supra by enablingnon-legacy UEs to acquire a standalone MBSFN cell and preventing legacyUEs from wasting time/battery power trying to acquire a standalone MBSFNonly cell.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an exemplary communication system 600 thatincludes a notification only cell. For example, the communication system600 may include a UE 604 and a serving base station 606 located in aserving cell 602 a. In addition, the communication system 600 mayinclude a neighbor cell 602 b that includes a neighbor base station 608.

In one aspect, the serving cell 602 a may include one of a suitablecell, an acceptable cell, or a notification only cell. A suitable cell,for example, may be a cell in which UE 604 may obtain normal service(e.g., data services and/or voice services). An acceptable cell, forexample, may be a cell in which UE 604 may obtain mobile alert messagesand initiate emergency calls. A notification only cell, for example, maybe a standalone MBSFN cell (e.g., eMBMS standalone cell) in which the UE604 may obtain mobile alert messages and eMBMS services only. In oneaspect, a mobile alert message may include one or more of Earthquake andTsunami Warning System (ETWS) messages and/or Commercial Mobile AlertSystem (CMAS) messages.

Referring to FIG. 6, the UE 604 may receive information 610, 620 fromeach the serving base station 606 and the neighbor base station 608,respectively. The UE 604 may detect a cell type 605 of each of theserving cell 602 a and the neighbor cell 602 b based on the receivedinformation 610, 620. In one aspect, the cell type may be detected aspart of a mobile alert service cell camping procedure performed by theUE 604. For example, the detected cell type may be one of a suitablecell, an acceptable cell, or a notification only cell. If serving cell602 a is a notification only cell, the UE 604 may camp on serving cell602 a if neighbor cell 602 b is neither a suitable cell nor anacceptable cell.

In a first example embodiment in which both the serving cell 602 a andthe neighbor cell 602 b are notification only cells, the UE 604 mayreselect 605 from the serving cell 602 a to the neighbor cell 602 bbased on notification only cell reselection procedures discussed infra.

In a first aspect of the first example embodiment, the neighbor cell 602b may transmit and/or broadcast unicast subframes from one or moretransmission points (e.g., neighbor base station 608 and at least oneother transmission point not illustrated in FIG. 6) within neighbor cell602 b that include at least one CRS that are detected by the UE 604. TheUE 604 may measure a quality 605 of the neighbor cell 602 b based on theat least one CRS detected in the unicast subframe 620 received from theneighbor base station 608 and any other transmission point(s) within theneighbor cell 602 b. Based on the measured quality of the cell, the UE604 may choose to reselect 605 from the serving cell 602 a to theneighbor cell 602 b when the quality of the neighbor cell 602 b isgreater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

In a second aspect of the first example embodiment, neighbor cell 602 bmay transmit and/or broadcast single frequency network subframes thatinclude at least one reference signal (e.g., MBSFN reference signal(MBSFN-RS)) from one or more transmission points (e.g., neighbor basestation 608 and at least one other transmission point not illustrated inFIG. 6) within neighbor cell 602 b. The UE 604 may measure a quality 605of the neighbor cell 602 b cell based on the at least one referencesignal detected in the single frequency network subframe 620 from theneighbor base station 608 and any other transmission point(s) within theneighbor cell 602 b. For example, the quality of the cell may include atleast one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a referencesignal received quality (RSRQ). Based on the measured quality of theneighbor cell 602 b, the UE 604 may choose to reselect 605 from theserving cell 602 a to the neighbor cell 602 b when the quality of theneighbor cell 602 b is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.Additional details of cell reselection while camping on a notificationonly cell are discussed infra with respect to FIG. 7.

In a second example embodiment, while camped on a notification only cell(e.g., serving cell 602 a), the UE 604 may monitor 605 unicast pagingfor a mobile alert 610 transmitted and/or broadcast by the serving basestation 606. The UE 604 may receive a SIB 610 associated with the mobilealert 610 in a unicast subframe or a MBSFN subframe. In addition, themobile alert 610 may be received in the unicast subframe or the MBSFNsubframe.

In a third example embodiment, the UE 604 may receive the mobile alert610 in a PMCH in one or more MBSFN subframes transmitted and/orbroadcast by the serving base station 606.

In a fourth example embodiment, the UE 604 may receive a list 610 of oneor more MBSFN services available in a region of the serving cell 602 a(e.g., a notification only cell). For example, the region may include atleast one of the serving cell 602 a and/or one or more neighboring cells(e.g., neighbor cell 602 b) that provide additional MBSFN services. Inan aspect, the list 610 may include information associated with at leastone MBSFN channel, at least one MBSFN cell, cyclic prefix length,bandwidth, a cell identification, co-location, or supported services.

In a fifth example embodiment, the serving cell 602 a may transmitand/or broadcast some subframes that have a control region (e.g., PDCCH)and other subframes that may not include a control region. The servingbase station 606 may signal 610 to the UE 604 which subframes have acontrol region and which do not. In addition, the serving base station606 may signal the cyclic prefix (CP) and/or numerology associated witheach subframe. For example, the UE 604 may receive first signaling 610that indicates first subframes that include control information andsecond subframes that do not include the control information. Inaddition, the UE 604 may receive second signaling 610 that indicates atleast one of symbol length or a control region size associated with eachsubframe. For example, the UE 604 may determine 605 at least one of aspecific cyclic prefix length or numerology associated with eachsubframe based on one or more of the symbol length or the control regionsize. In another aspect, the UE 604 may receive third signaling 610 thatindicates at least one of a cyclic prefix length or numerologyassociated with each subframe. For example, the serving base station 606may use a certain number of bits (e.g., 1 bit) to indicate the cyclicprefix length, symbol length, and/or numerology associated with each ofthe subframes in the first signaling, the second signaling, and thethird signaling.

For example, Table 1 below illustrates an example of the informationprovided in the first signaling and the second signaling.

TABLE 1 2^(nd) signaling = 0 (Short Bit Value CP) 2^(nd) signaling = 1(long CP) 1^(st) signaling = 0 CP length = 33 μs CP, CP length = 200 μs.Data = (No control) data = 133 μs. 800 μs. Single symbol per 6 symbolsper subframe subframe 1^(st) signaling = 1 CP length = 33 μs, data = CPlength = 128 μs, data = (Presence of 133 μs. 5 symbols per 800 μs.Single symbol per control) subframe. subframe

In addition, the first signaling and the third signaling may be merged.By merging the first signaling and the third signaling, information maybe provided that indicates no control symbols, 1 OFDM symbol of controlinformation, or 2 OFDM symbols of control information. Table 2 belowillustrates an example of the information provided in a merging of thefirst signaling and the third signaling.

TABLE 2 0: No Control 1: 1 OFDM symbol of control 2: 2 OFDM symbols ofcontrol

In addition, the determination of cyclic prefix, numerology, and/orsymbol length may be different for subframes with control informationand subframes without control information. Moreover, the determinationof cyclic prefix, numerology, and/or symbol length may be differentdepending on whether the control OFDM region uses normal cyclic prefix(NCP) or extended cyclic prefix (ECP) numerology. For example, 200 μscyclic prefix may be only available for control-less subframes. However,when NCP numerology is used with 1 OFDM symbol of control, the cyclicprefix may be reduced by the length of the first OFDM symbol (2048+160Ts=71.91 μs).

Base on the forgoing, the present disclosure provides a notificationonly cell that provides eMBMS services and a cell reselection procedurefor a notification only cell.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram 700 for a notification only cell reselectionprocedure performed by a UE (e.g., UE 104, 350, 604, apparatus1202/1202′).

At 702, the UE may perform cell selection of a cell (e.g., based on ahierarchy of cell types). For example, camping on a suitable cell mayhave the highest priority camping on an acceptable cell may have nexthighest priority over a notification only cell, and camping on anotification cell may be selected if there is neither a suitable cellnor an acceptable cell.

For example, if a suitable cell is found, then at 704 the UE may camp onthe suitable cell. If a suitable cell is not found but an acceptablecell is found, then at 706 the UE may camp on the acceptable cell.However, if neither a suitable cell nor an acceptable cell is found,then at 708 the UE may camp on a notification only cell.

At 710, while the UE is camped on the notification only cell, a cellreselection evaluation process 710 may be triggered. If during the cellreselection evaluation process a suitable cell is found, then at 712 theUE reselects (e.g., performs a cell reselection procedure) to camp onthe suitable cell. If during the cell reselection evaluation process asuitable cell is not found but an acceptable cell is found, then at 714the UE may reselect to camp on the acceptable cell. However, if duringthe cell reselection evaluation process neither a suitable cell is foundnor an acceptable cell is found, then the UE may remain on thenotification only cell 708 or reselect to camp on a neighboringnotification only cell based on cell quality measurements.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart 800 of a method of wireless communication inaccordance with various aspects. The method may be performed by a UE,such as a non-legacy UE (e.g., 104, 350, 420, 425, 504, apparatus902/902′). In FIG. 8, operations indicated with dashed lines representoptional operations for various aspects of the disclosure.

At 802, the UE may receive cell acquisition information associated withan eMBMS standalone cell. In one aspect, the cell acquisitioninformation may be included in a discovery subframe that is received inunicast mode. In another aspect, the discovery subframe may include atleast one of a PSS, an SSS, a PBCH, a CRS, an SIB, or an MIB. In afurther aspect, the cell acquisition information may be included in asynchronization channel that is received in a single frequency networkbroadcast mode. In a further aspect, the UE may be a non-legacy UE. Forexample, referring to FIG. 5, the base station 508 may transmit and/orbroadcast cell acquisition information 510 associated with thestandalone MBSFN cell 502 (e.g., eMBMS standalone cell). The cellacquisition information 510 may be received by both the non-legacy UE504 and the legacy UE 506. In one aspect, the cell acquisitioninformation 510 may be transmitted by the base station 508 in adiscovery subframe (e.g., using unicast mode). For example, a discoverysubframe that includes the cell acquisition information 510 may bereceived by the non-legacy UE 504 and the legacy UE 506 once every timeperiod (e.g., 80 ms). As mentioned supra, the discovery subframe mayinclude at least one of a PSS, an SSS, a PBCH, a CRS, an SIB, or an MIB.In other words, the discovery subframe may be very similar to a normalcell subframe 0. In an alternative aspect mentioned supra, the cellacquisition information 510 may be included in a synchronization channelthat is received by the non-legacy UE 504 and/or legacy UE 506 in asingle frequency network broadcast mode.

At 804, the UE may detect a UE avoidance scheme based on acharacteristic associated with the cell acquisition information. In anaspect, the UE avoidance scheme may be a legacy UE avoidance scheme. Inanother aspect, the characteristic may include a modified PBCHscrambling sequence. For example, referring to FIG. 5, the non-legacy UE504 and the legacy UE 506 may detect a UE avoidance scheme based on acharacteristic 505 associated with the cell acquisition information 510.The legacy UE 506 may not recognize the characteristic 505 and thus maystop the cell acquisition/search procedure for standalone MBSFN cell502. For example, if the PBCH scrambling sequence is modified to a newscrambling sequence, the legacy UE 506 may attempt to decode it with thelegacy scrambling sequence, which will result in the UE not being ableto decode it and stop the acquisition procedure. However, thecharacteristic 505 may be recognized by the non-legacy UE 504. When thecharacteristic 505 is detected by the non-legacy UE 504, the non-legacyUE 504 may perform cell acquisition 520 with the base station 508 of thestandalone MBSFN cell 502 based on the recognized characteristic 505. Ina first example embodiment, when the cell acquisition information 510 istransmitted by the base station 508 in a discovery subframe, thecharacteristic 505 may include at least one of a modified PSS sequencethat is not recognized by the legacy UE 506, a modified SSS sequencethat is not recognized by the legacy UE 506, a modified separationbetween the PSS and the SSS that is not recognized by the legacy UE 506,a modified PBCH payload size that is not recognized by the legacy UE506, a modified PBCH scrambling sequence that is not recognized by thelegacy UE 506, a modified MIB scrambling sequence that is not recognizedby the legacy UE 506, and/or a modified bandwidth value that is notrecognized by the legacy UE 506. In this way the modifiedcharacteristics listed supra may act as a UE avoidance scheme since themodified characteristics will cause the legacy UE 506 to skip the cellacquisition procedure.

At 806, the UE may perform cell acquisition with the eMBMS standalonecell based on the characteristic. For example, referring to FIG. 5, whenthe characteristic 505 is detected by the non-legacy UE 504, thenon-legacy UE 504 may perform cell acquisition 520 with the base station508 of the standalone MBSFN cell 502 based on the recognizedcharacteristic 505.

At 808, the UE may detect a modified PBCH scrambling sequence or amodified MIB CRC scrambling sequence. For example, referring to FIG. 5,when the cell acquisition information 510 is transmitted by the basestation 508 in a discovery subframe, the characteristic 505 may includea modified PBCH scrambling sequence and/or a modified MIB scramblingsequence that is not recognized by the legacy UE 506. In this way, themodified PBCH scrambling sequence and/or the modified MIB scramblingsequence may act as a UE avoidance scheme since the modifiedcharacteristics may cause the legacy UE 506 to skip the cell acquisitionprocedure. However, the modified PBCH scrambling sequence and/or themodified MIB scrambling sequence may be recognized by the non-legacy UE504, and thus the non-legacy UE 504 may perform cell acquisition of thestandalone MBSFN cell 502 based on the modified PBCH scrambling sequenceand/or the modified MIB scrambling sequence.

At 810, the UE may detect at least one of the modified PSS sequence orthe modified SSS sequence when the characteristic includes a modifiedPSS sequence or a modified SSS sequence. For example, referring to FIG.5, the non-legacy UE 504 may perform cell acquisition by detecting atleast one of the modified PSS sequence or the modified SSS sequence, anddetermining a cyclic prefix length associated with the cell acquisitioninformation based on the modified PSS sequence or the modified SSSsequence.

At 812, the UE may determine a cyclic prefix length associated with thecell acquisition information based on the modified PSS sequence or themodified SSS sequence. For example, referring to FIG. 5, when thecharacteristic 505 is detected by the non-legacy UE 504, the non-legacyUE 504 may perform cell acquisition 520 with the base station 508 of thestandalone MBSFN cell 502 based on the recognized characteristic 505. Inone example, the separation between PSS and SSS may be different fordifferent cyclic prefix lengths. After detecting the PSS, the UE mayattempt to detect the SSS with different separation hypothesis, whichare related to different CP lengths.

At 814, the UE may detect one of the PSS sequence with the fixed cyclicprefix length or the SSS sequence with the fixed cyclic prefix lengthwhen the characteristic includes a PSS sequence or SSS sequence with afixed cyclic prefix length. For example, referring to FIG. 5, thecharacteristic 505 may include at least one of a PSS sequence with afixed cyclic prefix length or a modified SSS sequence with a fixedcyclic prefix length. For example, the synchronization and/or broadcastchannel may be transmitted using a common cyclic prefix. In this secondaspect, the non-legacy UE 504 may perform cell acquisition by detectingone of the PSS sequence with the fixed cyclic prefix length or the SSSsequence with the fixed cyclic prefix length, and blindly decode theother one of the PSS sequence or the SSS sequence based on differentcyclic prefix lengths. For example, if the PSS transmitted by the basestation 508 has a constant length (e.g., 200 μs), then the non-legacy UE504 may blindly decode the SSS transmitted by the base station 508 fordifferent cyclic prefix lengths.

At 816, the UE may blindly decode the other one of the PSS sequence orthe SSS sequence based on different cyclic prefix lengths. For example,referring to FIG. 5, the characteristic 505 may include at least one ofa PSS sequence with a fixed cyclic prefix length or a modified SSSsequence with a fixed cyclic prefix length. For example, thesynchronization and/or broadcast channel may be transmitted using acommon cyclic prefix. In this second aspect, the non-legacy UE 504 mayperform cell acquisition by detecting one of the PSS sequence with thefixed cyclic prefix length or the SSS sequence with the fixed cyclicprefix length, and blindly decode the other one of the PSS sequence orthe SSS sequence based on different cyclic prefix lengths. For example,if the PSS transmitted by the base station 508 has a constant length(e.g., 200 μs), then the non-legacy UE 504 may blindly decode the SSStransmitted by the base station 508 for different cyclic prefix lengths.

At 818, the UE may blindly detect a cyclic prefix length based on thefixed symbol duration of the PSS sequence or the fixed symbol durationof the SSS sequence when the characteristic includes a PSS sequence witha fixed symbol duration or an SSS sequence with a fixed symbol duration.For example, referring to FIG. 5, the characteristic 505 may include atleast one of a PSS sequence with a fixed symbol duration or an SSSsequence with a fixed symbol duration. For example, if the symbolduration transmitted by the base station 508 is the same and the cyclicprefix is different, the same sequence may be transmitted regardless ofthe cyclic prefix. In this third aspect, the non-legacy UE 504 mayperform cell acquisition by blindly detecting a cyclic prefix lengthbased on the fixed symbol duration of the PSS sequence or the fixedsymbol duration of the SSS sequence.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram 900 illustrating the data flowbetween different means/components in an exemplary apparatus 902. Theapparatus may be a UE (e.g., UE 104, 350, 420, 425, 504, 604, theapparatus 902′) in communication with a base station 950 (e.g., basestation 102, 310, 412, 414, 508, 606, 608) located in an eMBMSstandalone cell. Reception component 904 may receive cell acquisitioninformation 901 from base station 950. In one aspect, the cellacquisition information 901 may be included in a discovery subframe thatis received in unicast mode. In another aspect, the discovery subframemay include at least one of a PSS, an SSS, a PBCH, a CRS, an SIB, or anMIB. In a further aspect, the cell acquisition information may beincluded in a synchronization channel that is received in a singlefrequency network broadcast mode. Reception component 904 may send asignal 903 associated with the cell acquisition information to detectioncomponent 906. Detection component 906 may detect a UE avoidance schemebased on a characteristic associated with the information 903 receivedfrom the reception component 904. For example, the UE avoidance schememay be a legacy UE avoidance scheme. In a first example, thecharacteristic may include a modified PBCH scrambling sequence.Detection component 906 may detect the modified PBCH scramblingsequence, and send a signal 905 associated with the modified PBCHscrambling sequence to cell acquisition component 912. Cell acquisitioncomponent 912 may perform cell acquisition with the eMBMS standalonecell based on the modified PBCH scrambling sequence, and send a signal907, 909 associated with the acquired eMBMS standalone cell to at leastone of reception component 904 and/or transmission component 914. In asecond example, the characteristic may include a modified PSS and/ormodified SSS, and detection component 906 may send a signal 911associated with the modified PSS and/or the modified SSS todetermination component 908. Determination component 908 may determine aCP length associated with the cell acquisition information based on themodified PSS sequence or the modified SSS sequence, and send a signal913 associated with the determined CP length to cell acquisitioncomponent 912. Cell acquisition component 912 may perform cellacquisition with the eMBMS standalone cell based on the determined CPlength, and send a signal 907, 909 associated with the acquired eMBMSstandalone cell to at least one of reception component 904 and/ortransmission component 914. In a third example, the characteristic mayinclude a PSS or SSS with a fixed CP length, and detection component 906may detect one of the PSS sequence with the fixed CP length or the SSSsequence with the fixed CP length. Detection component 906 may send asignal 915 associated with the PSS or SSS with a fixed CP length todecoding component 910. Decoding component 910 may blindly decode theother one of the PSS sequence or the SSS sequence based on different CPlengths, and send a signal 917 associated with one or more of the PSSsequence or the SSS sequence to cell acquisition component 912. Cellacquisition component 912 may perform cell acquisition with the eMBMSstandalone cell based on at least one of the determined PSS sequenceand/or SSS sequence, and send a signal 907, 909 associated with theacquired eMBMS standalone cell to at least one of reception component904 and/or transmission component 914. In a fourth example, thecharacteristic may include a PSS sequence with a fixed symbol durationor an SSS sequence with a fixed symbol duration. Detection component 906may detect the PSS sequence with the fixed symbol duration or the SSSsequence with the fixed symbol duration, and send a signal 905associated with the PSS sequence with the fixed symbol duration or theSSS sequence with the fixed symbol duration to cell acquisitioncomponent 912. Cell acquisition component 912 may perform cellacquisition with the eMBMS standalone cell based on the PSS sequencewith the fixed symbol duration or the SSS sequence with the fixed symbolduration, and send a signal 907, 909 associated with the acquired eMBMSstandalone cell to at least one of reception component 904 and/ortransmission component 914. Optionally, that apparatus may includetransmission component 914. In the optional configuration, thetransmission component 914 may receive a signal 909 associated withperforming cell acquisition (e.g., standalone eMBMS cell) from cellacquisition component 912, and may transmit cell acquisition information919 and/or UL communications 919 to the base station 950 to acquire thecell. Alternatively, the apparatus may be a reception-only apparatus(e.g., an apparatus that includes the reception component 904 but maynot include the transmission component 914).

The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of theblocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 8. Assuch, each block in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 8 may beperformed by a component and the apparatus may include one or more ofthose components. The components may be one or more hardware componentsspecifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm,implemented by a processor configured to perform the statedprocesses/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium forimplementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

FIG. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus 902′ employing a processing system 1014.The processing system 1014 may be implemented with a bus architecture,represented generally by the bus 1024. The bus 1024 may include anynumber of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specificapplication of the processing system 1014 and the overall designconstraints. The bus 1024 links together various circuits including oneor more processors and/or hardware components, represented by theprocessor 1004, the components 904, 906, 908, 910, 912, 914, and thecomputer-readable medium/memory 1006. The bus 1024 may also link variousother circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators,and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, andtherefore, will not be described any further.

The processing system 1014 may be coupled to a transceiver 1010. Thetransceiver 1010 is coupled to one or more antennas 1020. Thetransceiver 1010 provides a means for communicating with various otherapparatus over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1010 receives asignal from the one or more antennas 1020, extracts information from thereceived signal, and provides the extracted information to theprocessing system 1014, specifically the reception component 904. Inaddition, the transceiver 1010 receives information from the processingsystem 1014, specifically the transmission component 914, and based onthe received information, generates a signal to be applied to the one ormore antennas 1020. The processing system 1014 includes a processor 1004coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1006. The processor 1004 isresponsible for general processing, including the execution of softwarestored on the computer-readable medium/memory 1006. The software, whenexecuted by the processor 1004, causes the processing system 1014 toperform the various functions described supra for any particularapparatus. The computer-readable medium/memory 1006 may also be used forstoring data that is manipulated by the processor 1004 when executingsoftware. The processing system 1014 further includes at least one ofthe components 904, 906, 908, 910, 912, 914. The components may besoftware components running in the processor 1004, resident/stored inthe computer readable medium/memory 1006, one or more hardwarecomponents coupled to the processor 1004, or some combination thereof.The processing system 1014 may be a component of the UE 350 and mayinclude the memory 360 and/or at least one of the TX processor 368, theRX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359.

In one configuration, the apparatus 902/902′ for wireless communicationmay include means for receiving, by a UE, cell acquisition informationassociated with an eMBMS standalone cell. In an aspect, the cellacquisition information may be included in a discovery subframe that isreceived in unicast mode. For example, the discovery subframe mayinclude at least one of a PSS, a SSS, a PBCH, a CRS, an SIB, or an MIB.In another aspect, the cell acquisition information may be included in asynchronization channel that is received in a single frequency networkbroadcast mode. In another configuration, the apparatus 902/902′ forwireless communication may include means for detecting a UE avoidancescheme based on a characteristic associated with the cell acquisitioninformation. In an aspect, the UE may be a non-legacy UE and the UEavoidance scheme is a legacy UE avoidance scheme. In another aspect, thecharacteristic may include at least one of a modified PSS sequence, amodified SSS sequence, a modified separation between the PSS and theSSS, a modified PBCH payload size, a modified PBCH scrambling sequence,a modified MIB scrambling sequence, a modified bandwidth value, a PSSsequence with a fixed symbol duration, and/or an SSS sequence with afixed symbol duration. In one aspect, the means for performing the cellacquisition may be configured to detect the modified PBCH scramblingsequence or the modified MIB CRC scrambling sequence. In another aspect,the means for performing the cell acquisition may be configured todetect at least one of the modified PSS sequence or the modified SSSsequence and to determine a cyclic prefix length associated with thecell acquisition information based on the modified PSS sequence or themodified SSS sequence. In a further aspect, the characteristic mayinclude at least one of a PSS sequence with a fixed cyclic prefix lengthor a SSS sequence with a fixed cyclic prefix length. In one aspect, themeans for performing the cell acquisition may be configured to detectone of the PSS sequence with the fixed cyclic prefix length or the SSSsequence with the fixed cyclic prefix length and to blindly decode theother one of the PSS sequence or the SSS sequence based on differentcyclic prefix lengths. In another aspect, the means for performing thecell acquisition may be configured to blindly detect a cyclic prefixlength based on the fixed symbol duration of the PSS sequence or thefixed symbol duration of the SSS sequence. The aforementioned means maybe one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 902and/or the processing system 1014 of the apparatus 902′ configured toperform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As describedsupra, the processing system 1014 may include the TX Processor 368, theRX Processor 356, and the controller/processor 359. As such, in oneconfiguration, the aforementioned means may be the TX Processor 368, theRX Processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 configured to performthe functions recited by the aforementioned means.

FIGS. 11A and 11B is a flow chart 1100 of a method of wirelesscommunication in accordance with various aspects. The method may beperformed by a UE, such as non-legacy UE (e.g., 104, 350, 420, 425, 504,apparatus 1202/1202′). In FIGS. 11A and 11B, operations indicated withdashed lines represent optional operations for various aspects of thedisclosure.

In FIG. 11A, at 1102, the UE may detect a cell type as part of a mobilealert service cell camping procedure. In one aspect, the mobile alertservice cell camping procedure may include at least one of an ETWS cellcamping procedure or a CMAS cell camping procedure. In another aspect,the suitable cell may provide wireless communication services to a userequipment, the acceptable cell provides emergency mobile alerts andemergency calls, and the notification only cell provides emergencymobile alerts and eMBMS services. For example, referring to FIG. 6, theUE 604 may receive information 610, 620 from each the serving basestation 606 and the neighbor base station 608, respectively. The UE 604may detect a cell type 605 of each of the serving cell 602 a and theneighbor cell 602 b based on the received information 610, 620. In oneaspect, the cell type may be detected as part of a mobile alert servicecell camping procedure performed by the UE 604. For example, thedetected cell type may be one of a suitable cell, an acceptable cell, ora notification only cell. A suitable cell, for example, may be a cell inwhich UE 604 may obtain normal service (e.g., data services and/or voiceservices). An acceptable cell, for example, may be a cell in which UE604 may obtain mobile alert messages and initiate emergency calls. Anotification only cell, for example, may be a standalone MBSFN cell(e.g., eMBMS standalone cell) in which the UE 604 may obtain mobilealert messages and eMBMS services only. In one aspect, a mobile alertmessage may include one or more of ETWS messages and/or CMAS messages.

In FIG. 11A, at 1104, the UE may determine that the cell type is neitherthe suitable cell nor the acceptable cell. A suitable cell is a cell inwhich the UE can receive normal service (e.g. receive and/or initiateregular data transmission), which is determined based on the PLMN listbroadcast by the cell (if the PLMN of the UE is broadcast by the cell,then this cell is determined to be suitable) and is not barred. Anacceptable cell is a cell in which the UE can only receive limitedservice (initiate/receive emergency calls and ETWS/CMAS messages). Forexample, referring to FIG. 6, the UE 604 may receive information 610,620 from each the serving base station 606 and the neighbor base station608, respectively. The UE 604 may detect a cell type 605 of each of theserving cell 602 a and the neighbor cell 602 b based on the receivedinformation 610, 620. In one aspect, the cell type may be detected aspart of a mobile alert service cell camping procedure performed by theUE 604. For example, the detected cell type may be one of a suitablecell, an acceptable cell, or a notification only cell. If serving cell602 a is a notification only cell, the UE 604 may camp on serving cell602 a if neighbor cell 602 b is neither a suitable cell nor anacceptable cell.

In FIG. 11A, at 1106, the UE may camp on the notification only cellbased on the determination. For example, referring to FIG. 6, the UE 604may receive information 610, 620 from each the serving base station 606and the neighbor base station 608, respectively. The UE 604 may detect acell type 605 of each of the serving cell 602 a and the neighbor cell602 b based on the received information 610, 620. In one aspect, thecell type may be detected as part of a mobile alert service cell campingprocedure performed by the UE 604. For example, the detected cell typemay be one of a suitable cell, an acceptable cell, or a notificationonly cell. If serving cell 602 a is a notification only cell, the UE 604may camp on serving cell 602 a if neighbor cell 602 b is neither asuitable cell nor an acceptable cell.

In FIG. 11A, at 1108, the UE may detect unicast or single frequencynetwork subframes from a neighbor cell. For example, referring to FIG.6, the neighbor cell 602 b may transmit and/or broadcast unicastsubframes that include at least one CRS that are detected by the UE 604.Alternatively, the neighbor cell 602 b may transmit and/or broadcastsingle frequency network subframes that include at least one MBSFN-RS.

In FIG. 11A, at 1110, the UE may measure a quality of the cell based onthe at least one CRS when the UE detects unicast subframes. For example,referring to FIG. 6, The UE 604 may measure a quality 605 of theneighbor cell 602 b based on the at least one CRS detected in theunicast subframe 620 received from the neighbor base station 608.

In FIG. 11A, at 1112, the UE may reselect to the neighbor cell when thequality of the cell is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.For example, referring to FIG. 6, based on the measured quality of thecell, the UE 604 may choose to reselect 605 from the serving cell 602 ato the neighbor cell 602 b when the quality of the neighbor cell 602 bis greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

In FIG. 11A, at 1114, the UE may measure a quality of the cell based onthe at least one reference signal (e.g., MBSFN-RS, CRS, etc.) when theUE detects single frequency network subframes. For example, referring toFIG. 6, the UE 604 may measure a quality 605 of the neighbor cell 602 bcell based on the at least one reference signal detected in the singlefrequency network subframe 620 from the neighbor base station 608. In anaspect, the single frequency network subframes may include at least onereference signal transmitted from different transmission points in theneighbor cell 602 b. For example, the quality of the cell may include atleast one of a RSRP or a RSRQ.

In FIG. 11A, at 1116, the UE may reselect to the neighbor cell when thequality of the neighbor cell is greater than or equal to a predeterminedamount. For example, referring to FIG. 6, based on the measured qualityof the neighbor cell 602 b, the UE 604 may choose to reselect 605 fromthe serving cell 602 a to the neighbor cell 602 b when the quality ofthe neighbor cell is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

In FIG. 11B, at 1118, the UE may monitor unicast paging for a mobilealert. For example, referring to FIG. 6, the UE 604 may monitor 605unicast paging for a mobile alert transmitted and/or broadcast by theserving base station 606 when camped on a notification only cell (e.g.,serving cell 602 a).

In FIG. 11B, at 1120, the UE may receive an SIB associated with themobile alert in a unicast subframe or an MBSFN subframe. For example,referring to FIG. 6, the UE 604 may receive a SIB 610 associated withthe mobile alert in a unicast subframe or a MBSFN subframe.

In FIG. 11B, at 1122, the UE may receive the mobile alert in the unicastsubframe or the MBSFN subframe. For example, referring to FIG. 6, themobile alert 610 may also be received in the unicast subframe or theMBSFN subframe.

In FIG. 11B, at 1124, the UE may receive a mobile alert in a PMCH in oneor more MBSFN subframes. For example, referring to FIG. 6, the UE 604may receive the mobile alert 610 in a PMCH in one or more MBSFNsubframes transmitted and/or broadcast by the serving base station 606.

In FIG. 11B, at 1126, the UE may receive a list of one or more MBSFNservices available in a region of the notification only cell. In oneaspect, the region may include at least one of the notification onlycell or neighboring cells that provide additional MBSFN services. Inanother aspect, the list may include information associated with atleast one MBSFN channel, at least one MBSFN cell, cyclic prefix length,bandwidth used to transmit the MBSFN services, a cell identification,co-location, or supported services. For example, referring to FIG. 6,the UE 604 may receive a list 610 of one or more MBSFN servicesavailable in a region of the serving cell 602 a (e.g., a notificationonly cell). For example, the region may include at least one of theserving cell 602 a or one or more neighboring cells (e.g., neighbor cell602 b) that provide additional MBSFN services. In an aspect, the listmay include information associated with at least one MBSFN channel, atleast one MBSFN cell, cyclic prefix length, bandwidth, a cellidentification, co-location, or supported services.

In FIG. 11B, at 1128, the UE may receive first signaling that indicatesfirst subframes that include control information and second subframesthat do not include the control information. For example, referring toFIG. 6, the serving cell 602 a may include some subframes that have acontrol region (e.g., PDCCH) and other subframes that may not include acontrol region. Thus, the serving base station 606 may signal to the UE604 which subframes have a control region and which do not. In addition,the serving base station 606 may signal the cyclic prefix and/ornumerology associated with each subframe. For example, the UE 604 mayreceive first signaling 610 that indicates first subframes that includecontrol information and second subframes that do not include the controlinformation.

In FIG. 11B, at 1130, the UE may receive second signaling that indicatesat least one of symbol length or a control region size associated witheach subframe. In one aspect, the UE may determine which subframesinclude a control region and which subframes do not include a controlregion based on at least one of the symbol length (e.g., a subframe witha control region has a different symbol length than a subframe that doesnot include a control region). For example, referring to FIG. 6, the UE604 may receive second signaling 610 that indicates at least one ofsymbol length or a control region size associated with each subframe.

In FIG. 11B, at 1132, the UE may determine at least one of a specificcyclic prefix length or numerology associated with each subframe basedon one or more of the symbol length or the control region size. In oneaspect, the UE may determine which subframes include a control regionand which subframes do not include a control region based on at leastone of the cyclic prefix length or numerology associated with eachsubframe (e.g., a subframe with a control region may have a differentcyclic prefix length and/or numerology than a subframe that does notinclude a control region). For example, referring to FIG. 6, the UE 604may determine 605 at least one of a specific cyclic prefix length ornumerology associated with each subframe based on one or more of thesymbol length or the control region size.

In FIG. 11B, at 1134, the UE may receive third signaling that indicatesat least one of a cyclic prefix length or numerology associated witheach subframe. In one aspect, the UE may determine which subframesinclude a control region and which subframes do not include a controlregion based on at least one of the cyclic prefix length or numerologyassociated with each subframe (e.g., a subframe with a control regionmay have a different cyclic prefix length and/or numerology than asubframe that does not include a control region). For example, referringto FIG. 6, the UE 604 may receive third signaling 610 that indicates atleast one of a cyclic prefix length or numerology associated with eachsubframe. For example, the serving base station 606 may use a certainbit amount (e.g., 1 bit) for each of the first signaling, the secondsignaling, and the third signaling.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual data flow diagram 1200 illustrating the dataflow between different means/components in an exemplary apparatus 1202.The apparatus may be a UE (e.g., UE 104, 350, 420, 425, 504, 604, theapparatus 902′) in communication with a first base station 1250 (e.g.,base station 102, 310, 412, 414, 508, 606) located in a first eMBMSstandalone cell (e.g., serving cell 602 a) and a second base station1255 (e.g., base station 102, 310, 412, 414, 508, 608) located in asecond eMBMS standalone cell (e.g., neighbor cell 602 b).

The apparatus may include a reception component 1204 that receives oneor more of cell type information 1201, first signaling 1201, secondsignaling 1201, third signaling 1201, unicast subframes 1201, singlefrequency network subframes 1201, and/or a mobile alert 1201 from firstbase station 1250. In addition, reception component 1204 may receivecell type information 1203, unicast subframes 1203, and/or singlefrequency network subframes 1203 from second base station 1255.Reception component 1204 may send a signal 1205 associated with one ormore of the cell type information 1201, 1203, unicast subframes 1203,single frequency network subframes 1203, first signaling 1201, secondsignaling 1201, third signaling 1201, and/or a mobile alert 1201 todetection component 1206. Detection component 1206 may detect a celltype as part of a mobile alert service cell camping procedure. Forexample, the cell type of the first eMBMS cell may be detected based onthe cell type information 1201 received from first base station 1250.The cell type of the second eMBMS cell may be detected based on the celltype information 1203 received from second base station 1255. Detectioncomponent 1206 may send a signal 1207 associated with one or more of thecell type information associated with the first base station 1250 and/orthe second base station 1255 to determination component 1208.Determination component 1208 may determine that the cell type of thefirst base station 1250 is a notification only cell (e.g., neither asuitable cell nor an acceptable cell). In addition, determinationcomponent 1208 may determine that the cell type of the second basestation 1255 is also a notification only cell (e.g., neither a suitablecell nor an acceptable cell). Determination component 1208 may send asignal 1209 indicating that the respective cells associated with thefirst base station 1250 and the second base station 1255 are bothnotification only cells to cell camping component 1210. Cell campingcomponent 1210 may camp on the notification only cell associated withthe first base station 1250 based on the signal 1209 indicating that therespective cells associated with the first base station 1250 and thesecond base station 1255 are both notification only cells. Cell campingcomponent 1210 may send a signal 1211 indicating to transmissioncomponent 1216 and/or reception component 1204 that the apparatus 1202is camping on the serving cell. Transmission component 1216 may send asignal 1213 to first base station 1250 indicating that the apparatus1202 is camping on the serving. In addition, detection component 1206may detect unicast subframes or single frequency network subframestransmitted and/or broadcast by the second base station 1255 based onthe signal 1205 received from reception component 1204. Detectioncomponent 1206 may send a signal 1215 associated with the unicastsubframes or single frequency network subframes to measurement component1212. Measurement component 1212 may measure a quality of the cellassociated with the second base station 1255 based on the at least oneCRS when the signal 1215 includes information associated with unicastsubframes. Additionally and/or alternatively, measurement component 1212measure a quality of the cell associated with the second base station1255 based on the at least one MBSFN-RS when the signal 1215 includesinformation associated with single frequency network subframes.Measurement component 1212 may send a signal 1217 associated with aquality of the cell associated with the second base station 1255 toreselection component 1214. Reselection component 1214 may reselect tothe neighbor cell when the quality of the neighbor cell is greater thanor equal to a predetermined amount. Reselection component 1214 may senda signal 1219 associated with cell reselection to transmission component1216 and/or reception component 1204. Transmission component 1216 maysend a signal 1213, 1221 to one or more of the first base station 1250and/or the second base station 1255 indicating that the apparatus 1202is reselecting to the cell associated with the second base station 1255(e.g., neighboring cell). In addition, reception component 1204 maymonitor unicast paging for a mobile alert 1201 from the first basestation 1250 when camped on the serving cell or from the second basestation 1255 when camped on the neighbor cell. Reception component 1204may receive an SIB 1201 associated with the mobile alert in a unicastsubframe or an MBSFN subframe received from the first base station 1250.Further, reception component 1204 may receive the mobile alert 1201 in aPMCH in one or more MBSFN subframes from the first base station 1250.Additionally and/or alternatively, reception component 1204 may receivea list 1201 of one or more MBSFN services available in a region of thenotification only cell (e.g. serving cell) from the first base station1250. In one aspect, the region may include at least one of thenotification only cell or neighboring cells that provide additionalMBSFN services. In another aspect, the list may include informationassociated with at least one MBSFN channel, at least one MBSFN cell,cyclic prefix length, bandwidth, a cell identification, co-location, orsupported services. Further, reception component 1204 may receive firstsignaling 1201 from first base station 1250 that indicates firstsubframes that include control information and second subframes that donot include the control information. Reception component 1204 mayreceive second signaling 1201 from first base station 1250 thatindicates at least one of symbol length or a control region sizeassociated with each subframe. Reception component 1204 may send asignal 1223 to determination component 1208 associated with at least oneof symbol length or a control region size associated with each subframe.Determination component 1208 may determine which subframes include acontrol region and which subframes do not include a control region basedon at least one of the symbol length (e.g., a subframe with a controlregion has a different symbol length than a subframe that does notinclude a control region). Additionally and/or alternatively,determination component 1208 may determine at least one of a specificcyclic prefix length or numerology associated with each subframe basedon the signal 1223 associated with one or more of the symbol length orthe control region size. In one aspect, determination component 1208 maydetermine which subframes include a control region and which subframesdo not include a control region based on at least one of the cyclicprefix length or numerology associated with each subframe (e.g., asubframe with a control region may have a different cyclic prefix lengthand/or numerology than a subframe that does not include a controlregion). Reception component 1204 may receive third signaling 1201 fromthe first base station 1250 that indicates at least one of a cyclicprefix length or numerology associated with each subframe. Receptioncomponent 1204 may send a signal 1223 to determination component 1208associated with at least one of the cyclic prefix length or thenumerology associated with each subframe. In one aspect, determinationcomponent 1208 may determine which subframes include a control regionand which subframes do not include a control region based on at leastone of the cyclic prefix length or numerology associated with eachsubframe (e.g., a subframe with a control region may have a differentcyclic prefix length and/or numerology than a subframe that does notinclude a control region).

The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of theblocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowcharts of FIGS. 11Aand 11B. As such, each block in the aforementioned flowcharts of FIGS.11A and 11B may be performed by a component and the apparatus mayinclude one or more of those components. The components may be one ormore hardware components specifically configured to carry out the statedprocesses/algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to performthe stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable mediumfor implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

FIG. 13 is a diagram 1300 illustrating an example of a hardwareimplementation for an apparatus 1202′ employing a processing system1314. The processing system 1314 may be implemented with a busarchitecture, represented generally by the bus 1324. The bus 1324 mayinclude any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on thespecific application of the processing system 1314 and the overalldesign constraints. The bus 1324 links together various circuitsincluding one or more processors and/or hardware components, representedby the processor 1304, the components 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212,1214, 1216 and the computer-readable medium/memory 1306. The bus 1324may also link various other circuits such as timing sources,peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, whichare well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described anyfurther.

The processing system 1314 may be coupled to a transceiver 1310. Thetransceiver 1310 is coupled to one or more antennas 1320. Thetransceiver 1310 provides a means for communicating with various otherapparatus over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1310 receives asignal from the one or more antennas 1320, extracts information from thereceived signal, and provides the extracted information to theprocessing system 1314, specifically the reception component 1204. Inaddition, the transceiver 1310 receives information from the processingsystem 1314, specifically the transmission component 1216, and based onthe received information, generates a signal to be applied to the one ormore antennas 1320. The processing system 1314 includes a processor 1304coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1306. The processor 1304 isresponsible for general processing, including the execution of softwarestored on the computer-readable medium/memory 1306. The software, whenexecuted by the processor 1304, causes the processing system 1314 toperform the various functions described supra for any particularapparatus. The computer-readable medium/memory 1306 may also be used forstoring data that is manipulated by the processor 1304 when executingsoftware. The processing system 1314 further includes at least one ofthe components 1204, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1212, 1214, 1216. The componentsmay be software components running in the processor 1304,resident/stored in the computer readable medium/memory 1306, one or morehardware components coupled to the processor 1304, or some combinationthereof. The processing system 1314 may be a component of the UE 350 andmay include the memory 360 and/or at least one of the TX processor 368,the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359.

In one configuration, the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wirelesscommunication may include means for detecting a cell type as part of amobile alert service cell camping procedure. In an aspect, the cell typemay be one of a suitable cell, an acceptable cell, or a notificationonly cell. In another aspect, the notification only cell may beassociated with an eMBMS standalone service. In a further aspect, themobile alert service cell camping procedure may include at least one ofan ETWS cell camping procedure or a CMAS cell camping procedure. Inanother aspect, the suitable cell may provide wireless communicationservices to a UE, the acceptable cell may provide emergency mobilealerts and emergency calls, and the notification only cell may provideemergency mobile alerts and eMBMS services. In another configuration,the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include meansfor determining that the cell type is neither the suitable cell, nor theacceptable cell. In a further configuration, the apparatus 1202/1202′for wireless communication may include means for camping on thenotification only cell based on the determination. Additionally, theapparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include means fordetecting unicast subframes transmitted by a neighbor cell. In oneaspect, the unicast subframes may include at least one CRS. Furthermore,the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include meansfor measuring a quality of the cell based on the at least one CRS. In afurther configuration, the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wirelesscommunication may include means for reselecting to the neighbor cellwhen the quality of the cell is greater than or equal to a predeterminedamount. In another configuration, the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wirelesscommunication may include means for detecting single frequency networksubframes transmitted by a neighbor cell. In an aspect, the SFNsubframes may include at least one reference signal transmitted fromdifferent transmission points. In a further configuration, the apparatus1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include means for measuring aquality of the cell based on the at least one reference signal. Stillfurther, the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication may includemeans for reselecting to the neighbor cell when the quality of the cellis greater than or equal to a predetermined amount. In an aspect, thequality of the cell may include at least one of an RSRP or an RSRQ. Inaddition, the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication mayinclude means for monitoring unicast paging for a mobile alert. Further,the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include meansfor receiving an SIB associated with the mobile alert in a unicastsubframe or an MBSFN subframe. Additionally, the apparatus 1202/1202′for wireless communication may include means for receiving the mobilealert in the unicast subframe or the MBSFN subframe. In anotherconfiguration, the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication mayinclude means for receiving a mobile alert in a PMCH in one or moreMBSFN subframes. In an additional configuration, the apparatus1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include means for receiving alist of one or more MBSFN services available in a region of thenotification only cell. In an aspect, the region may include at leastone of the notification only cell or neighboring cells that provideadditional MBSFN services. In another aspect, the list may includeinformation associated with at least one MBSFN channel, at least oneMBSFN cell, cyclic prefix length, bandwidth, a cell identification,co-location, or supported services. In a further configuration, theapparatus 1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include means forreceiving first signaling that indicates first subframes that includecontrol information and second subframes that do not include the controlinformation. Still further, the apparatus 1202/1202′ for wirelesscommunication may include means for receiving second signaling thatindicates at least one of symbol length or a control region sizeassociated with each subframe. In another configuration, the apparatus1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include means for determiningat least one of a specific cyclic prefix length or numerology associatedwith each subframe based on one or more of the symbol length or thecontrol region size. In a further configuration, the apparatus1202/1202′ for wireless communication may include means for determiningat least one of a specific cyclic prefix length or a specific numerologyassociated with each subframe based on the third signaling. Theaforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned componentsof the apparatus 1202 and/or the processing system 1314 of the apparatus1202′ configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementionedmeans. As described supra, the processing system 1314 may include the TXProcessor 368, the RX Processor 356, and the controller/processor 359.As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TXProcessor 368, the RX Processor 356, and the controller/processor 359configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in theprocesses/flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of exemplaryapproaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that thespecific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flowcharts may berearranged. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. Theaccompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in asample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order orhierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the various aspects described herein. Variousmodifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied toother aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to theaspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistentwith the language claims, wherein reference to an element in thesingular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specificallyso stated, but rather “one or more.” The word “exemplary” is used hereinto mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspectdescribed herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless specifically statedotherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as“at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least oneof A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or anycombination thereof” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, and mayinclude multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically,combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B,or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and“A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be A only, B only, C only, Aand B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combinationsmay contain one or more member or members of A, B, or C. All structuraland functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspectsdescribed throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to beknown to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporatedherein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims.Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to thepublic regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited inthe claims. The words “module,” “mechanism,” “element,” “device,” andthe like may not be a substitute for the word “means.” As such, no claimelement is to be construed as a means plus function unless the elementis expressly recited using the phrase “means for.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communications, comprising:receiving, by a user equipment (UE), cell acquisition informationassociated with an enhanced multicast broadcast service (eMBMS)standalone cell; detecting a UE avoidance scheme based on acharacteristic associated with the cell acquisition information; andperforming cell acquisition with the eMBMS standalone cell based on thecharacteristic.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is a non-legacyUE and the UE avoidance scheme is a legacy UE avoidance scheme.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the cell acquisition information is includedin a discovery subframe that is received in unicast mode.
 4. The methodof claim 3, wherein the discovery subframe includes at least one of aprimary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal(SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a cell-specific referencesignal (CRS), a system information block (SIB), or a master informationblock (MIB).
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the characteristicincludes a modified PBCH scrambling sequence.
 6. A method of wirelesscommunications, comprising: detecting a cell type as part of a mobilealert service cell camping procedure, the cell type being one of asuitable cell, an acceptable cell, or a notification only cell, thenotification only cell being associated with an enhanced multicastBroadcast service (eMBMS) standalone service; determining that the celltype is neither the suitable cell, nor the acceptable cell; and campingon the notification only cell based on the determination.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein the mobile alert service cell camping procedureincludes at least one of an Earthquake and Tsunami Warning service(ETWS) cell camping procedure or a Commercial Mobile Alert service(CMAS) cell camping procedure.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein thesuitable cell provides wireless communication services to a userequipment, the acceptable cell provides emergency mobile alerts andemergency calls, and the notification only cell provides emergencymobile alerts and eMBMS services.
 9. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising: detecting unicast subframes transmitted by a neighbor cell,the unicast subframes including at least one cell-specific referencesignal (CRS); measuring a quality of the neighbor cell based on the atleast one CRS; and reselecting to the neighbor cell when the quality ofthe cell is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.
 10. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising: detecting single frequencynetwork (SFN) subframes transmitted by a neighbor cell, the SFNsubframes including at least one reference signal transmitted fromdifferent transmission points; measuring a quality of the neighbor cellbased on the at least one reference signal; and reselecting to theneighbor cell when the quality of the cell is greater than or equal to apredetermined amount.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the quality ofthe cell includes at least one of a reference signal received power(RSRP) or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ).
 12. The method ofclaim 6, further comprising: monitoring unicast paging for a mobilealert; receiving a system information block (SIB) associated with themobile alert in a unicast subframe; and receiving the mobile alert inthe unicast subframe.
 13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:receiving a list of one or more multicast broadcast single frequencynetwork (MBSFN) services available in a region of the notification onlycell, wherein the region includes at least one of the notification onlycell or neighboring cells that provide additional MBSFN services, andwherein the list includes information associated with at least one MBSFNchannel, at least one MBSFN cell, cyclic prefix length, bandwidth, acell identification, co-location, or supported services.
 14. The methodof claim 6, further comprising: receiving first signaling that indicatesfirst subframes that include control information and second subframesthat do not include the control information.
 15. The method of claim 14,further comprising: receiving second signaling that indicates at leastone of a cyclic prefix length or numerology associated with eachsubframe; and determining at least one of a specific cyclic prefixlength or a specific numerology associated with each subframe based onthe second signaling.
 16. An apparatus for wireless communications,comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memoryand configured to: receive, by a user equipment (UE), cell acquisitioninformation associated with an enhanced multicast broadcast service(eMBMS) standalone cell; detect a UE avoidance scheme based on acharacteristic associated with the cell acquisition information; andperform cell acquisition with the eMBMS standalone cell based on thecharacteristic.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the UE is anon-legacy UE and the UE avoidance scheme is a legacy UE avoidancescheme.
 18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the cell acquisitioninformation is included in a discovery subframe that is received inunicast mode.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the discoverysubframe includes at least one of a primary synchronization signal(PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcastchannel (PBCH), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a systeminformation block (SIB), or a master information block (MIB).
 20. Theapparatus of claim 19, wherein the characteristic includes a modifiedPBCH scrambling sequence.
 21. An apparatus for wireless communications,comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memoryand configured to: detect a cell type as part of a mobile alert servicecell camping procedure, the cell type being one of a suitable cell, anacceptable cell, or a notification only cell, the notification only cellbeing associated with an enhanced multicast Broadcast service (eMBMS)standalone service; determine that the cell type is neither the suitablecell, nor the acceptable cell; and camp on the notification only cellbased on the determination.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein themobile alert service cell camping procedure includes at least one of anEarthquake and Tsunami Warning service (ETWS) cell camping procedure ora Commercial Mobile Alert service (CMAS) cell camping procedure.
 23. Theapparatus of claim 21, wherein the suitable cell provides wirelesscommunication services to a user equipment, the acceptable cell providesemergency mobile alerts and emergency calls, and the notification onlycell provides emergency mobile alerts and eMBMS services.
 24. Theapparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: detect unicast subframes transmitted by a neighbor cell,the unicast subframes including at least one cell-specific referencesignal (CRS); measure a quality of the neighbor cell based on the atleast one CRS; and reselect to the neighbor cell when the quality of thecell is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.
 25. Theapparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: detect single frequency network (SFN) subframestransmitted by a neighbor cell, the SFN subframes including at least onereference signal transmitted from different transmission points; measurea quality of the neighbor cell based on the at least one referencesignal; and reselect to the neighbor cell when the quality of the cellis greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.
 26. The apparatus ofclaim 25, wherein the quality of the cell includes at least one of areference signal received power (RSRP) or a reference signal receivedquality (RSRQ).
 27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: monitor unicast paging for a mobilealert; receive a system information block (SIB) associated with themobile alert in a unicast subframe; and receive the mobile alert in theunicast subframe.
 28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to: receive a list of one or moremulticast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) services availablein a region of the notification only cell, wherein the region includesat least one of the notification only cell or neighboring cells thatprovide additional MBSFN services, and wherein the list includesinformation associated with at least one MBSFN channel, at least oneMBSFN cell, cyclic prefix length, bandwidth, a cell identification,co-location, or supported services.
 29. The apparatus of claim 21,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receivefirst signaling that indicates first subframes that include controlinformation and second subframes that do not include the controlinformation.
 30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: receive second signaling thatindicates at least one of a cyclic prefix length or numerologyassociated with each subframe; and determine at least one of a specificcyclic prefix length or a specific numerology associated with eachsubframe based on the second signaling.